Stuart Broad smashes brittle Warwickshire

STUART Broad ran through Warwickshire’s brittle batting with a career-best eight for 52 in 13 overs as Nottinghamshire stepped up their bid for the LV= County Championship title with a crushing ten-wicket win inside three days at Edgbaston.

STUART Broad ran through Warwickshire’s brittle batting with a career-best eight for 52 in 13 overs as Nottinghamshire stepped up their bid for the LV= County Championship title with a crushing ten-wicket win inside three days at Edgbaston.

The 24-year-old England fast bowler took his first five wickets in 26 balls in a fired-up preparation for the start of the Test series with Pakistan on his home ground at Trent Bridge next week.

Nottinghamshire’s first win in five matches piles the pressure on Yorkshire at the top of the Division One table but Warwickshire, dismissed for exactly 100 for the second time this season, are in relegation trouble.

With confidence levels rapidly diminishing, the Bears have taken only 29 points from seven matches – six of which were lost – since they were fourth in the division after beating Kent at Canterbury in May.

The way they caved in against one of the stronger sides was alarming for their supporters. Nottinghamshire’s openers, Samit Patel and Alex Hales, needed only 18 balls to score 25 and wrap up victory an hour after lunch.

From a strong position on the second afternoon, when the visitors were 131 for five in their first innings, Warwickshire were outplayed and ultimately embarrassed in losing so quickly when only 76 behind after the first innings.

Mark Wagh turned the game away from them with his second century at Edgbaston in two seasons and when he was last out for 139, slicing a drive off Neil Carter to point, Nottinghamshire had recovered to make 389.

Carter’s tireless performance in taking five for 116 – his third five-wicket return of the season – counted for little when it was followed by another ineffective display by the specialist batsmen.

As impressive as Broad’s figures were, it is likely that he has bowled equally well many times in his career. While he profited from a catalogue of batting errors, Ryan Sidebottom performed for no reward in a spell of 8-4-14-0.

Broad struck in each of his first two overs as Ian Westwood and Jonathan Trott followed deliveries away from the body and gave catches to Hales in the gully.

Ant Botha seemed to be aiming towards mid-wicket when finding Ali Brown at mid-on but Broad was quick and straight when knocking out Jim Troughton’s middle stump and trapping Rikki Clarke first ball.

After a short break for rain, Darren Maddy stretched some way outside off-stump when driving to Steven Mullaney at cover and Chris Woakes steered a straightforward chance to Andre Adams at third slip.

Broad’s hopes of taking ten wickets were ended by the hard-hitting Carter. Having swatted 27 to become Warwickshire’s top Championship scorer this season, he holed out to deep cover off Adams.

Tim Ambrose made 22 before becoming Broad’s last victim with a sharp catch by Adams in the gully and Imran Tahir was run out for 17 after a mix-up with Boyd Rankin.

Nottinghamshire may not have seen a lot of Broad since recruiting him from Leicestershire in 2008 but he has given good value when free from England commitments. In six Championship appearances in three seasons, he has now picked up 42 wickets.